Gripla - 20.12.2009, Blaðsíða 123

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of Icelandic civilisation had an interesting counterpart in the actual conver­
sion of the Icelanders c. 1000. the story has been told and retold a number
of times, and I shall only relate the most salient points within the present
context. Following missionary activities and a general shift towards
Christianity in the rest of Scandinavia (along with the establishment of
kingdoms), the goðar, that is the lesser local chieftains who had both reli­
gious and secular functions and who played a main role also at the annual
Alþing, had started to convert. this transformed Christianity from a pri­
vate to a political matter and accelerated the process of Christianisation
considerably. At the opening of the Alþing in the year 1000, the people
were divided in two camps, heathen and Christian. Some suggested that
the two groups declare themselves ‘out of law with one another’ (Ís lend­
ingabók Ch.7), thus effectively establishing two societies within the same
space. Others, and among them the Lawspeaker, the heathen Þorgeirr,
felt that to rend asunder law was to rend asunder peace, and he suggested
a compromise within one law that he then ‘spoke’: the Icelanders would
accept Christianity with some provisos; the exposure of newborn chil­
dren, the consumption of horsemeat, and sacrificing to heathen gods
were still to be permitted on the condition that these activities took place
in secrecy.
Within the context of contemporary European views of the world, the
shift from heathenism to Christianity marks a shift from barbarism to
civilisation, albeit a hesitating one in this case. one element in this is the
advent of writing as a corollary to mission and conversion. The more
important element, however, is the paving of the way for kingship and a
new sense of the state – thus realising what Aristotle saw as the primary
element in civilisation. Although the conversion occurred at one point in
time in Iceland, we need not believe that there is a distinct before and after
in the actual social life of the Icelanders. It is simply a way of thematising a
historical process that had begun long before and which was to continue
for a long period yet. We should also remember that ‘heathenism’ itself
emerged simultaneously with Christianity, for which it provided an apt
counterpoint – which could be annulled through conversion. It was insuf­
ferable that the Icelanders were to remain barbarians in the eyes of the
bearers of Christian civilisation, even if they had to suffer peculiarly unfor­
tunate material disadvantages on their far northern island.
noRtHeRn BARBARIAnS